September 07, 2011

I couldn't stand our boring white door anymore. Something had to be done. So over the weekend, we wallpapered it with a big, fun piece of fabric. I love it. And it's useful, too. There are four white doors in this corner of the apartment—bedroom, bathroom, coat closet, and outer door—and sometimes departing guests get confused about which one they came through. Now we'll just tell them to exit through the village.

This fabric is fairly thin cotton from IKEA. It's called Britten Hus and designed by someone named Emma Jones. No relation that I know of, but clearly someone I would like. She's also got this handwriting print which I adore. Someone should use it! Bed sheets would work really well for this project, too.

For this DIY fabric wallpaper project, you'll need water, cornstarch, a big brush (or a paint roller if you want to do a larger wall), scissors, and a craft knife if you have obstacles like we did.

First mix up your paste, since it will need time to cool. I made way too much, but better safe than sorry. I don't think I even used half of it, so you might want to cut this recipe down. I adjusted a bit to get a nice consistency that's thickened, but pourable. Like really thick gravy.

Boil 4 cups of water in a pot. Mix about 3/8 cup cornstarch with a little water in a small bowl until the powder is dissolved. Add the cornstarch mixture to the water slowly while stirring. Boil until thickened and then let it cool.

In the meantime, measure the area you want to wallpaper and cut your fabric to size. I just made a small cut in the edge of my fabric and tore each side, since I knew it would make a straighter line than I could cut. I trusted that the design was printed to be aligned with the grain.

Brush the entire door with paste, then begin applying fabric from the top down, adjusting and smoothing as you go. The paste is very forgiving and will allow you to smooth out wrinkles or peel a section back off and reposition it. If you need more paste in dry spots, just brush more on. It doesn't change the color of the fabric when it's dry.

Use a scissors or Xacto knife to cut around any obstacles. We made a few quick slits where the lock and doorknob were, just to get the fabric fitted over them so we could continue smoothing out the rest of the door. Then we went back and trimmed carefully around the hardware with a knife. We applied more paste to stick down the raw edges.

Finally, we went back around the sides of the door and brushed on a little extra paste to smooth down any loose threads and keep the raw ends from fraying. If you like, you can brush another coat of paste over the entire door, decoupage style. Our fabric was stuck down well enough and I liked the soft fabric texture, so I opted not to. If you use thicker fabric, it might be a good idea to glue it down a little better with a top coat, though.

Our end result was smooth and perfectly wrinkle free. Love it!

Here's the doorknob with still-damp fabric around it.

When you're tired of the fabric, just pull it off and your paint job is unharmed. You may need to use a damp sponge to wipe off any clear paste residue or thread stragglers. I'd also suggest machine washing brightly colored fabric first to make sure the dyes don't bleed when the fabric is moistened with paste—do a small test first.

Update: To show how the fabric peels off, I pasted another chunk onto my hallway wall, then pulled it off.

The fabric peeled off easily. In this case, the edge of the glued area showed slightly. After taking this photo, I went over it with a damp sponge to see if I could erase it, but that just made the faintly darker area larger. The slight discoloration is the result of getting the wall damp. The walls in my hallway have flat paint, which doesn't like wetness—it always shows every water drip and isn't very wipeable. I don't mind, since this part of the hallway is dim and it doesn't show. Or I can always wipe the whole wall with a moist sponge and it will all match, ha! I suspect if your paint finish is satin or semi-gloss, which are more wipeable, you won't have any issues at all.

So if your wall or door has flat paint, you might want to cover the entire surface with fabric so you don't see any discolored edges where the fabric starts and stops.

6/14/13 Update, two years later: I pulled all the fabric off the door. Super easy, and no need to repaint. Here's an action photo.

Hi! LOVE the door!!! I've done this type of thing with fabric before and used liquid laundry starch (spray starch doesn't work). It's a little hard to find in stores now but once you find a bottle it keeps a long time. It's much easier to remove the fabric from satin, semi-gloss or gloss paint than flat or eggshell, so that's something to keep in mind too.

love how this looks on the door. I did this years ago on a wall in my bedroom. We were renting, so it was a great way to get bright color without harming the wall paint. I used laundry starch too, but your method seems easier!

Hi, Jessica!Your blog is amazing. So is the idea with the door and the fabric. Do you think that it would work on smaller objects as well? Let's say, on a box of shoes?Sorry for my pure English.Keep inspiring us.Katerina.

Margot, I haven't heard of any bug problems doing this method. Anyone?

Katerina, I think a different method would be better for shoe boxes. This isn't a very permanent solution for applying fabric, so with normal wear and tear on your box, the fabric will probably start to peel up around the edges. (Walls don't get have lids that need to go on and off, and aren't handled very much.) You might try a spray adhesive to stick on your fabric, followed with some spray acrylic to seal it. Or use some Hard Coat Mod Podge for covering your box with fabric.

I love that IKEA print! I scored some from the AS IS section for next to nothing and I made some stuffed toys out of the houses. Am I weird? Probably. You can see one of them here: http://dohdums.wordpress.com/2010/09/14/diy-crib-sheets/

What an absolutely fantastic idea! I have been lurking around for around a year but this post just made me want to leave a comment, though I have used your ideas over and over all this time! Fantastic and SO simple! You are a little bit good at this stuff aren't you!!?? Thanks so much for sharing all your craft and design ideas. Such a talent! You are inspiring!

Aah, clever! I want to do a similar thing to my hall closet doors, only with old maps. I need it to be removable like your fabric, though - I'm not expecting the maps to survive removal but I don't want to be sanding and repainting the doors. Any suggestions?

Any ideas on whether this would work on an unfinished door? We have three doors in our basement that haven't been painted yet, and I'm thinking about doing this instead. I wonder if I would at least need to put a clear coat or some primer on first?

This is Awesome!! Do you know if this would work on a plastic acrylic sheet? I have some built-ins that I love to try this on but I'm planning to back them with an acrylic sheet first. Or perhaps cardboard might work better?

Great idea. But I think molds will find cornstarch great "food" in this humid tropical climate where I am, so I will try it using the hook-and-loop tape/velcro one commenter suggested to avoid mold growth.

Love this on a door! I did this to my bathroom when I was renting using spray starch and it worked like a dream. I had thought the humidity might take a toll on it, but it kept up nicely for the two years I was in that apartment. Thanks for the tutorial :)

I've used spray starch before to put paper onto windows (generally bathroom windows) in a non-permanent way. But I hadn't thought of making paste with cornstarch, thank you so much for the good idea!Very good-looking door too :-).

Leslie, depends on how permanent you want the fabric to be on your drawers. I think the edges will start to come loose if they get rubbed much. You could always use this method if you want to add fabric more permanently.

What a great idea! Gonna have to try that at my place. Thanks for the tip and the share. IKEA is only 10 minutes away and they have another great black and white fabric with letters or text, I think. M

Are you freaking kidding me?!?!?! I wish I would have known about this when I lived in an apartment we weren't allowed to paint! I thought about trying to apply fabric to the walls but I wasn't sure how to do it in a temporary way. I'm definitely going to have to use this. Thanks so much!

Wow, I really love this idea! We are military so we move around a lot but sometimes I want a bit of uniqueness in the home I'm in and don't want it to damage the wall or in this case, doors. Great Idea! Glad I found ur blog (pinterest) I followed! Would love it if you passed by my blog, fb page, or my yt channel & said hello! Can't wait to check out the rest of your blog posts!

I loved this! I was really wanting one of those vinyl wall stickers shaped like a tree for my son's nursery, but they were a bit too pricy. So I made one using scraps and it is much cuter than the store bought version, and it only cost me 72 cents! :)

Thanks for the inspiration! I have been looking into vinyl stencels for a pantry makeover but this looks easier and a lot less money! Do you know if this will work on textured walls? The walls inside my pantry are textured so I am not sure it will work. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Love this idea! i've heard about it being done, but i never actually looked into it until now. Thanks for posting such a great tutorial! one question though...for anyone who might read through the comments. Obviously fabric is flammable, as well as corn startch. I want to do this in the house my husband and i are renting however we live in an extremly old house so we don't rely on our radiators to heat the house much because all the heat goes out the windows as well as cold coming in because the walls aren't insulated, so often enough we have electric heaters running. so my question is, if i do a room and then run a heater what would the odds of a fire hazard be? (i wouldn't put the heater right next to the wall i covered, but this question popped into my mind and now i can't seem to do this until i have an answer) Thanks for any input!!

I didn't see this question, but I also didn't read ALL the comments: do you think this would work on flat clear glass shower doors??? I'm not using the tub/shower in this room and want to "dress it up."

Hi Sandra,I wouldn't use this technique on top of wallpaper. The starch mixture is too wet and will saturate the wallpaper and it will be ruined. You might have to do some subtle stapling at the ceiling and baseboards or something instead.

If you are doing a full wall you might want to try staples that you have painted the flat top of. I did my daughter's room like that . I used an overlapping technique, so only the edges of the walls showed the staples. Choose fabric wisely so the staples hide well. I skipped all the gooy stuff with this dry technique.

It will probably stick, but keep in mind the starch mixture is wet, so I'm not sure what effect it will have on sheetrock that doesn't have a coat of paint there to protect it. Also I imagine it will stick to wallpaper, but the dampness might hurt the paper.

Just a quick question...Would that paste work for paper also? I've been wanting to cover a wall with these cute 12"x12" textured papers, but I don't know how to stick them to the wall without ruining the paint. I don't want to use putty as that would show little bumps at each corner. Thoughts?

If the door is Formica, that should work since it's not porous, right? Hard to say without seeing your door in person, but if it's any kind of laminate surface, it's probably got some kind of coating on it that makes it water resistant.

Did you only cover one side of the door? Have you ever covered 2 sides? When you did the sides, did it not make the door too tight and stick? Perhaps one might have to plane the door down a bit forst if it closes quite tightly? And if you do both sides of the door, where the 2 fabrics join might be quite thick, and might come loose more easily? Hence I guess your advise about choosing a thin fabric, and adding more 'glue' to the ends.

Hi Deborah,I covered just one side of the door and didn't put fabric on the edge side. If I were doing two sides of the door, which would be very awesome, I still wouldn't put any on the edge because the constant opening and closing might wear the fabric off--depends on how your door fits the frame, I suppose. My door just happened to be painted white so it blends with the fabric I chose.

I rent a really OLD place that has brown wood paneling (YUK) I cannot paint but came across your post and seen that the paint was left a little discolored. I was wondering if you think it would do the same to the paneling.

Or if you have any other suggestions as to how I can cover this nasty stuff I would love it!

I think on paneling, which is probably varnished (thus protected), and much darker, you wouldn't see any residue left over. If there was, a damp cloth should get any leftover glue off. Even satin-finish paint would probably be okay, since it's more water resistant/wipeable than my flat paint was.

I'd try a test piece someplace near the floor to see how it goes. Pull it off after it has dried completely and see what it looks like.

Quilting stores have really beautiful fabrics, some of them very wide so that they can be used as seamless backings on a queen or king sized quilt. They would be great on walls as there would be fewer seams.

Do you know how this method would do in a bathroom? I want to try this as an accent wall but I'm concerned about the moisture. I read all the comments above and only one person said it worked okay in her bathroom. Another commenter mentioned mold might be an issue because of the starch? I guess if it's that bad, just take it down. Any advice?

I saw this idea and my brain exploded and now I'm repainting my wall, ( a satin- not just for the cornstarch mix but for my 4 year old) and I found this beautiful bright yellow lace fabric to put up! As soon as it's done I'll definitely be taking pictures! Thanks for this idea!

This is not only a wonderfull idea, but your description is also great! I did it yesterday on our little girls door with flamingo textile, also Ikea.At first I still had some bumps, but with a steaming iron the dried up glue underneath the fabric got moist again and glued everything back together. Instead of the cornstarch mixture you recommended, I used wallpaper glue. I believe the properties are more or less the same, but it's easier to make.Thank you very much for your ideas!Love from the Netherlands!

Wallpaper won't come off this easily, unless you use the new removable stuff companies are selling, which is basically printed fabric backed with repositionable adhesive, like wall decals use. In that case you wouldn't use this glue, though.

If you want to make your own wallpaper paste for traditional wallpaper, google for recipes. Haven't done it myself.

Could I use some sheet like fabric to do this I would love to do this with spider man design on my son's door like can I go to Joan fabrics or Michaels and get regular sheet like fabric and do this? I'm not sure if this will tell me u replied back or not but can u e mail me at stevfansmommy@gmail.com It would mean the world to me if u could reply to my email address

Hi! I have done this technique on a wall and it worked wonders except for the fact that when smoothing a few bumps, they bled through the fabric and left white/shiny stains. The fabric is already positioned on the wall but the stains don't look pretty. How can I remove them? I tried rubbing them with a damp cloth but they resurfaced. Any ideas? If I get the stains out the result would be just perfect!

Paula, what do you think the stain is "made" of? What is the surface of your wall behind the fabric--is it paint, or something else? Or did the rubbing cause the texture of the fabric to get damaged? What kind of fabric is it?

I always wanted to do something like this. However, I want to use it for a double purpose: easy to clean and insulation. Use: in a garage. What would you suggest I use? I was thinking a laminated cotton, denim or corduroy? Are they too heavy? By the way, my walls are thick plaster over brick.

I've always wanted to use this method. I would need this to be able to do two things at least: easy to clean (wipe off stains) and insulate. Do you think that denim, corduroy or laminated linen could work (ie: heavy weight fabric)? Now here's the kicker: its for a garage and my garage walls are uneven plaster over brick. Anybody? Please feel free to comment and help me. Thanks in advance.

Hmmm. To be wipeable, it needs to be vinyl, oilcloth, or laminated cotton (not denim or corduroy). I haven't tried using the starch method on anything that heavy. I don't think it would work with the heavier weights. Possibly it could hold up a laminated quilt-weight cotton, but that stuff can get pricey fast.

Could you tack up vinyl or oilcloth with small brad nails? Not sure how crumbly your plaster gets; ours does okay with tiny nails.

Wonderful instructions! I just had a chance to pick up some awesome ikea fabric :) it is the same concept as the "village" only different designs. So my question to you is....how well would "coloring" it on the wall go? I want to do a section of my craft room and be able to have my nieces and nephews over to color when they feel like it! I was thinking fabric markers or paint but I'm just wondering if you had any experience or possibly know if it would make the cornstarch come loose or bleed through to the wall? Anyways I love all your ideas and tips, thanks!!!!!!

I love this idea, we are renting and would love to paint a few rooms. I don't plan on going anywhere soon. I keep thinking a whole wall of Sponge Bob or maybe two at opposite ends of the room, my boy would just love it. Plus with sponge bob being a very popular character I sure I could find bed sheets fairly easily. Thanks so very much for the info on this, I think my boy is going to love his new room.

To anonymous above, I'd be pretty worried that markers would bleed through. Me, I wouldn't try it. I wonder if there's a dry medium you could use. Chalk or stick pastels or something? Might need to spray fixative on it afterwards if the "dust" wants to rub off. Or would crayons work? I haven't tried to use them on smooth fabric before. But any wet medium is going to bleed through.

Your door looks great! You've inspired me to do something in the house. I've seen something like this technique but done with liquid starch. My walls have a texture, do you think that will be a problem?

I knew I was saving that star wars sheet for a reason! This is a perfect idea! I live in a residential hotel with no options to soften the glaring white-ness! (Walls, molding, ceiling, windowpanes, doors, even weird exposed pipe.. all painted in one uniform shade of asylum white!) I REALLY can't thank you enough for sharing this idea!!!

I would like to use this technique to make over some old fashioned wooden furniture (closet, drawers). The wood is kind of lacquered, furniture from the 90's belonging to my landlord. They are in good condition so I cannot leave any stain on them.

I haven't tried that, so hopefully someone else can weigh in. If I were to guess, I'd say that since the wood is lacquered, it won't be harmed by having the wet glue applied. The fabric should come off easily, and at the most you may have to wipe off any remaining glue residue with a damp cloth. I'd try pasting a small piece of fabric in an inconspicuous area first, leave it on a couple days, and then take it off as a test.

I started this project on a large wall I have in my rental studio. The wall needed five vertical panels to be covered, which I am overlapping because the stretching ends up with the seams not being straight (all good). I put up one panel and then ran out of the extra liquid starch I had on hand. Unfortunately, When I went to put up the next panel, the joints where I got fresh liquid starch on the fresh panel dried with whitish stains that look like excess starch that the fabric cannot absorb, and which dried flakily on the top of the fabric. I have thought about doing a lite coat of starch over everything to simply make all the stains "even" or rollering it with water to try to wash it out but am not sure if that will dissolve the starch or leave me with a new set of stains. Ultimately, I can always remove them from the wall, wash them, allow them to dry, and then rehang them but Its a lot of work, and this will likely happen again since I will still have overlap. Has anyone else had this problem and devised an on-wall solution? Or have thoughts on my current theories?

Hi Jessica! Am thinking about trying your method for applying fabric to painted wooden art panels instead of a door or wall. Have you ever tried applying something like mod podge, polycrylic or a spray sealer to make it permanent? Thanks so much!

Hi Amy, you might try Hard Coat Mod Podge. You can apply several coats and sand lightly for a really smooth finish if you like. Or just glue the fabric on with one coat, then put on a top coat, and call it a day if you're not looking for super smooth.

I'm about to go to college so I picked up this nifty trunk from Craigslist, off of an old little man who'd had it a very long time and believed it belonged to his mother and her mother, and so on. But anyways, since it's a little worn, I was going to use this technique to cover the inside with vintage-looking fabric. It has a shelf that's removable for more storage. But I'm worried that with this technique, the fabric will peel off from the inside due to frequent usage (i.e. putting clothes in, storing clunkier things in it, removing the shelf to get to the bottom, etc) and things rubbing against it, which walls don't really go through. Would this technique be sturdy enough for covering the interior of a big, old-style travel trunk, and have it last through at least 4 years of college?

Would this work with a satin? I have some satin that has almost an embroidered pattern on it and I'd like to use this technique to attach it to the wall at the head of the bed and I was wondering if it would dull the satin's satin-ness. LOL. Any idea before I push the go button?